Improving Access

Helping patients access primary care when they need it

We built this clinic and started operating in July of 2021 with a group of six doctors. In November of 2021 we grew to seven doctors and then added on a nurse practitioner in July of 2022. We’re excited to announce that two more local family physicians are joining the practice in 2023 – Drs. Kuchinad and Riehl.

We’re pleased to welcome patients of their practices to Tay River Health Centre in January and April, respectively.

Serving Our Patients Now and Into the Future

We are no strangers to growth and change. We are committed to learning and endeavour to serve our patients effectively as the healthcare environment around us shifts and changes, too. As we move into 2023, we are taking the opportunity to reflect on both our past successes and opportunities for improvement into the future.

One area we will be focusing on this year is helping patients get access to primary care sooner.

We’re going to accomplish this in two ways:

Online booking for appointments

All patients will be directed to book certain types of appointments online using Ocean, the secure service we also use for patient messages and reminders.

Online booking is only for appointments from 7 days to 30 days out. If you’re looking to make an appointment more than 30 days out or if your provider doesn’t have availability in that timeframe, please check again until booking is available with your provider.

We are optimistic that this service will minimize call volumes and wait times over the phone so we can deal with more urgent matters. We strongly encourage all patients with access to the internet to familiarize themselves with and use this helpful tool.

Accessing care when you need it

Most patients want to receive care either the same day or within a few days of a health issue arising. Beginning this February, we are going to trial a model called the carve-out model with Dr. Ferrier’s practice. This model is an advanced access scheduling system and employing it means that patients will be able to be seen by their provider in a matter of days rather than a matter of the usual 2-4 weeks.

To effectively test this model, we’re going to be revamping Dr. Ferrier’s schedule. First, we have cleared the backlog of appointments in the schedule, which means that we haven’t accepted any appointment bookings for non-urgent issues leading up to February 6, 2023.

Beginning February 6th, same-day and next-day appointments will be available to be booked online.

Appointments for chronic issues, well-baby visits, immunizations, driver’s medicals, etc. that need to be scheduled in advance and/or involve the nurse, can still be booked in-office or over the phone.

Same-day appointments with our Nurse Practitioner beginning February 6, 2023

We’re making more appointments for patients' urgent needs available. Kim Macpherson, NP will see patients of all physicians if the doctor’s schedule is full or if they’re not available.

As always, we appreciate your time in reviewing this important information. Thank you for your continued support of our clinic.

Your partners in health,

The team at Tay River Health Centre